Steering device.



PATBNTED NOV. 3, 1903.-

0. EWING. STEERING .nEvm-z; APPLICATION FILED DEC. 16, 1902. RENEWED OUT. 1, 1903.

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Patented November 3, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES EWING, OF MADRAS, INDIA.

STEERING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 742,978, dated November 3, 1903.

Application filed December 16, 1902. Renewed October 1, 1903. Serial No. 175,326. (No model) T on whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES EWING, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of Madras, in the Province of Madras, India, have invented a new and Improved Steering Device, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. The invention relates to rolling-stock for single-rail tramways, such as shown and described in the Letters Patent of the United States No. 541,732, granted to me June 25, 1895.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved steering device more especially designed forfuse on power-driven traction-engines, rolling-stock, and other vehicles traveling on single-rail tramways and arranged to steer the vehicle automatically along the single rail without the aid of asteersman and to allow of running the vehicle with great safety over the road and at a very high rate of speed.

The invention consists of novel features and parts and combinations of the same, as will be more fully described hereinafter and then pointed out in the claims.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in the accompanying drawings,.

forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate. corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a sideelevation of theimprovement as applied to a'traction-engine. Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the steering-truck. Fig. 3 is an enlarged front elevation of the same, showing the wheel traveling on a rail having its head above ground, the rail being shown in cross-section; and Fig. 4; is a like view of a modified form of the same, showing the steering-wheel'in position on a single rail flush with the ground.

The traction-engine A (shown in Fig. 1) has its traction-wheels B driven by a suitable motive power and located on opposite sides of the single rail O,'on which are adapted to travel steering-wheels D, arranged in tandem fashion and journaled in suitable bearings on a truck E, having a king-bolt connection F with the front end of the traction-engine A, as plainly illustrated in the drawings. Springs G are preferably interposed between the truck E and the king-bolt connection to allow a yielding motion of the front end of the vehicle relative to the truck on going over rough roads or up and down on steep grades.

Each of the steering-Wheels D is provided with annular side flanges D on the sides of a tread D to extend on opposite sides ofthe head of the rail 0, having its upper portion extending above the ground, as plainly indicated in Figs. 1 and 3. By this arrangement the steering-wheels are not liable to leave the track-rail O.

In the modified form shown in Fig. 4 a steering-wheel D has a single annular flange D projecting from a tread D at the middle thereof, and the said flange D extends into a groove C formed lengthwise in a rail 0', supported on the ground with the top flush with the ground-surface, as plainly indicated in the said figure. It is understood that the annular flange D engaging the groove of the rail prevents the steering-wheel from leaving the rail.

Now by the arrangement described it will be seen that when the traction-engine A or other vehicle is propelled forward then the steering-wheels D guide the vehicle in its forward movement without the aid of a steersman, as the said steering-wheels readily follow the track-rail G and by their flange or flanges are not liable to leave the track-rail,

as previously mentioned.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-'- 1. A steering device for road-vehicles, comprising steering-wheels arranged tandem and adapted to travel on a single rail, a truck in which the said wheels are journaled, the said truck having a central depressed portion, a vertical pivot on which the front end of the vehicle rests, and a connection between said pivot and the central depressed portion of the truck, as set forth. 2. A steering device for road-vehicles,co1nprising steering-wheels arranged tandem and adapted to travel on a single track, a truck having a king-bolt connection at its central portion with the front end of the vehicle, the Wheels being j ournaled in the said truck, and springs located at or near the central portion i i i I of the truck and interposed between thetruck and the king-bolt connection and directly supporting the latter, as set forth.

3. The combination with a traction-engine .having power-driven traction-wheels traveling on the ground and located near the rear of the engine, of a truck having acentral depressed portion, steeringwheels arranged tandem and journaled in suitable hearings on the truck at the front and rear of the depressed portion, the said steering-wheels being adapted to'travel on a single rail, springs secured to the depressed portion of the truck between the Wheels, and a pivotal connection between the springs and the lower portion of the traction-engine at the front end thereof, as set forth.

4:. A steering device for a vehicle, comprising a truck having a depressed central portion, springs secured to the depressed portion, steering- Wheels journaled on the said truck at the front and rear of the depressed portion and arranged tandem, the wheels being adapted to travel on a single rail, springs secured to the depressed portion of the truck, and a pivotal connection between the springs and the vehicle, as set forth.

5. A steering device for traction-vehicles having power-driven traction-wheels traveling on the ground and located near the rear of the vehicle, the said steering device com- 7&2,978

prising a single rail on the ground between the traction-wheels,steering-wheels arranged to travel tandem on the said single rail forward of the traction-wheels, the said wheels having means for holding the Wheels on the track, a truck located beneath the forward end of the vehicle and in which the said steering-Wheels are journaled, a pivot on which the forward end of the vehicle rests, and springs interposed directly between the pivot and the truck to allow a yielding motion of the front end of the vehicle relative to the truck, as set forth.

6. A steering device for road-vehicles,com prising steering-Wheels arranged tandem and adapted to travel on a single rail, the said wheels being provided with means for preventing them leaving the track, a truck in which the Wheels are journaled, the truck having a central depressed portion, springs secured to the depressed portion of the truck, and a king-bolt connection between the said springs and thefront end of the vehicle, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES EWING.

Witnesses:

T. P. CABoT, W. IVOR JAMES. 

